Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden... AWESOME

Title: Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden
Rating:  6 out of 5

Let me start off by saying this is by far my overall favorite anime series and for those who haven't seen Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden, you are missing some great Anime. These are actually two different series centered around the same character.  The first series Naruto show the main character Uzumaki Naruto (Japanese have the family name first) as a child entering the Ninja Academy (similar to grade school) and the formation of their team (Team 7).  The team is made up of Naruto, two other students, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, and their team captain and teacher Hatake Kakashi, whose views don't necessarily follow the typical Ninja mentality.  According to the typical Ninja mentality, a ninja who fails his mission is worthless but in his eyes, one who abandons his team members is worse.  The series does well in developing each of the characters as well as the relationships between all the team members.  There are a ton of sites that describe each of the members in detail and the story line.  Just understand that there is a deep secret that everyone but Naruto knows, which impacted his life and has focused his determination to be accepted by everyone and become the Hokage - the #1 ninja and leader of Konoha (the Leaf Village).  The series takes a lot of twists and turns with some learning and growing for each of the young ninja as well as some betrayals and unexpected events.  The series ends with Naruto leaving the village under the guidance and protection of one of the greatest Leaf Ninjas, Jiraiya or as Naruto calls him, pervy sage.  The Naruto series was aired between October 3, 2002 and February 8, 2007 and is comprised of 220 episodes (that's 110 hours of viewing pleasure!!!).

The second series Naruto Shippuuden (shippuuden translates to hurricane chronicles) shows Naruto returning to the village a few years later and continues with his growth and education learning new ninja techniques.  The development and interaction of the characters continues well in this series.  As the characters are a few years older (late teens), the intended audience has also aged as well as some of the themes aren't geared for elementary school kids.  The second series has the death of some major characters and the changing of a crush love to a more mature love between several of the characters for example.  The episodes began airing on February 15, 2007 and are currently in production.  Right now, they are in Season 12 and it will be going on for a while longer.  As of today, episode 274 was released where we find everyone involved in the fourth Ninja War (a war involving all the Ninja nations).

FYI, these are all based on a manga (Japanese comic book) for those who would rather read than watch anime.  I would imagine that this may be one of the largest anime series.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please let me know and I'll see what I can do for you!

Thanks for reading... :)